Trip to Ireland – Ring of Kerry, Part IV

Rain is still coming down, but Sweet Sweet and I wised up and decided to take a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry an incredibly scenic and beautiful part of the eastern coast of Ireland. Some of the photos might have a glare to them because some of them were taken from the bus due to the rain. It didn’t rain non-stop, but it rained quite a bit. Despite being on a bus, this was one of our more enjoyable days.

There was some small town at the beginning of the tour where the town-folks honored a goat each year. The town swells to a population of 30,000 during this goat-celebrating-festival. Here’s a photo of a statue of said goat:

Part of the countryside:

This photo was taken off the side of a road, our first stop, which was some pub where they wanted you to spend a little cash. Sweet Sweet and I opted out of the spending money part, but we did notice that the same woman who almost caused an international incident was on a similar bus making the same tour.

The bar and the tourists, having their Irish Coffee:

The locals, having their second beer by 10:30 a.m.:

An incredibly hazy but nice picture of Sweet Sweet and myself:

Sweet Sweet:

Photos of scenery:

Here’s the same photo, but I’ve played with some of the color, the first one is the original photo and the second is the revised:

The next stop was a sort of dog show. A man had put on a display of how his border collies could herd sheep. It was a little bit of cash, but Sweet Sweet and I are suckers for puppy dogs, so we decided to go. Very enjoyable show and learned a lot too. There’s no need to bring in the sheep in Ireland at night because there are no natural predators, thus the dogs are really only used for herding and separating the flock. The man was able to control the dog with a series of whistles, letting them know when to go forwards, backwards, right or left.

The dog.

The man and some different variety of sheep:

The dog about to bring the sheep to the bottom of the hill:

We got back on the bus and headed to a seaside village for lunch:

Back on the bus after we grab a quick bite to eat. The next stop is almost at the apex or center of the trip with a beautiful stop off the coastline up some fairly steep terrain.